spy work
by wild wolf free17
Summary: various drabbles about Bryce; mostly crossovers
1. with a feeling skill I paint my Hell

**Title**: with a feeling skill I paint my hell

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Sidney.

**Warnings**: pretend the timeline works

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 190

**Point** **of** **view**: third

* * *

There is a great deal about Neal Caffrey that Peter doesn't know. Some of it he has guessed, some refused to even consider, and some he'd never suspect.

Neal Caffrey has never been connected to Bryce Larkin even though they have the same face. They went their separate ways for college, and only they know their names from before then. Neither of them graduated highschool, but there is no record of that anywhere, either.

Bryce is a superspy and Neal an ex-con, and they've kept track of each other. Whenever Bryce has to lay low, he visits his twin and they switch in and out for a few days. It'd be easy as breathing to slip the tracker, but that's not the game.

And when Neal feels his brother's death, he leaves New York. He'll miss Peter and El and all the rest, and he doesn't even let Mozzie know he's going. Bryce kept weapons stashed all over the country and he made sure that Neal learned everything he did when it came to being dangerous.

Someone somewhere killed Neal's brother, for good this time. And someone somewhere will pay.


	2. so much more dangerous

**Title**: so much more dangerous

**Fandom**: Chuck/Leverage

**Warnings**: pre-series for both

**Pairings**: pre-Bryce/Eliot

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 120

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Bryce/Eliot, not his usual type

* * *

Eliot usually prefers them rougher around the edges, a man who looks like he could take Eliot apart if he wanted—which, of course, couldn't actually happen, but the illusion is nice enough.

This one, though, is almost too pretty, is slick and cool, his eyes just as blue as Eliot's, and just as much of a lie.

This one, he's dangerous, alright, but it isn't obvious to look at him. He looks nice, and sweet, a gentleman who'd help little old ladies cross the street.

Eliot smiles at him, and he smiles back, asks Eliot what he'd like to drink, and he's so not Eliot's usual type, but Eliot's pretty sure he's not this guy's usual type, either.


	3. breathing mirrors

**Title**: breathing mirrors

**Fandom**: Chuck/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: spoilers for up to season 2 of "Chuck"

**Pairings**: a smidge of could-be Peter/Neal and Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 330

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Bryce and Neal both get the gift of a second chance at life. They decide to use it as a second chance at being brothers as well.

* * *

Noah and Brendan Lafferty were born in September, but which day only they know. Those records (actually, any records before Neal Caffrey and Bryce Larkin) are lost. They'll never be found because they were destroyed utterly. No one remembers Noah and Brendan Lafferty.

Bryce Larkin is declared dead, all evidence of him erased, and his body reported as incinerated. It's not his first death, though, and it doesn't take any more than the others have. The only thing he regrets leaving behind is Chuck, but Chuck has Sarah now.

Neal Caffrey spends almost four years in jail before escaping twice. The second one takes and he's suddenly working for the man who imprisoned him. They actually get to be pretty good friends. Neal sometimes thinks he could fall in love Peter, and it'd be easy to do.

When Brendan shows up inside Noah's apartment, it's like seeing a ghost. They haven't stood face-to-face in almost fifteen years and a great deal has changed since then. Neither of them is who they were, that day Brendan became Bryce and Noah became Neal.

They smile at each other, talk about the world and where they've been, and sit at Noah's table. Noah pulls out the leftovers from dinner and asks what Brendan plans to do now.

Brendan shrugs. "Bryce Larkin is dead, for good this time."

Noah nods. "I'm not quite ready to move on yet," he says. "You can stay if you want." He pauses, meeting Brendan's eyes. "Or we can go somewhere. Do anything."

Brendan smiles. "I think Neal Caffrey has a brother," he muses, twirling spaghetti with his fork. "Isn't his name Brent?"

Neal chuckles. "You know, I believe you're right."

When Neal knocks on Peter's door the next morning, there's a breathing mirror standing next to him and Peter's got two of them to deal with.

Neal and Brent can't stop smiling because the world is new and bright, and they've both got second chances.


	4. a hat or not a hat

**Title**: a hat or not a hat

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU for Chuck

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 145

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: White Collar/Chuck, Twins! Neal & Bryce + their teams, FBI and CIA (and NSA) join forces to uncover an arms dealer working behind the scenes of an art show

* * *

The order came down from someone a few rungs higher than Hughes on the ladder, and Neal wasn't allowed to say no.

What worried Peter was that after learning the CIA was heavily involved, Neal quit fussing about it. In fact, he spent most of the two days leading up to the meeting _grinning_. He didn't stop, that Peter saw.

Not a good sign. For anyone.

"We're waiting for our last agent," the spokesperson for the CIA said, while two other agents set up their laptops.

Peter shot a quick glance around, about ready to track Neal down and drag him to the conference room. Then, Neal walked in, holding his hat in his hands. And another Neal followed him.

Peter blinked, looked away, and looked back. Yep, still two Neals.

The CIA lady said, "_Bryce_." The Neal without a hat chuckled.

Neal just kept on smirking.


	5. a mask worn too long

**Title**: a mask worn too long

**Fandom**: Chuck/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU for Chuck

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 295

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Chuck/Sarah/(Neal), Peter doesn't trust 'Mr and Mrs Charles', no matter how much they seem to care for Neal.

* * *

They say their names are Chester 'Chuck' and Sarafina Charles. They're good, but Peter's run enough ops to know undercover when he sees it.

And Neal, after his immediate reaction of _joy_ quickly stifles it for the professional courtesy of an art consultant meeting the victims of art theft.

But the damage is done, because that first reaction sticks in his mind.

Chuck is like a puppy, bounding after Neal everywhere he goes in the gallery. Sara stays with Peter, telling him the details, but her eyes follow Neal with well-hidden longing.

Peter gets them out of there as quickly as possible. He wants to demand answers, to command that Neal tell him everything because there is some backstory he's not privy to and it's annoying the shit out of him. But he keeps quiet because there's a look on Neal's face he's never seen before, not for Kate or Alex or any other piece of his past that Peter's learned about. This is something new.

It's only after Neal's out of the car and headed up to his loft at June's that Peter realizes the look on Neal's face was very similar to the one he wore when he went undercover as a hitman. He says he hates guns, that he's always hated guns, but the way he used them… his hands didn't even seem to need his mind. And the way he acted when he went after Fowler—that wasn't the Neal Caffrey Peter chased for three years, or the Neal Caffrey he's worked with for the past two.

He wonders which Neal Caffrey just went upstairs to his loft, and which one he'll drive to work tomorrow.

And Peter hopes, fervently, that they won't have to deal with Chuck and Sara Charles again.


	6. For years I told this story all wrong

**Title**: For years I told this story all wrong

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Betsy Sholl

**Warnings**: spoilers for Chuck season 2

**Pairings**: one-sided Bryce/Chuck, pre-Peter/Bryce!Neal

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 250

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Bryce!Neal, he'd really only ever had one best friend

* * *

It shocked everyone back home when that pretty little trailer slut made it into Stanford. His grades were subpar, except for math, but he tested exceptionally well. And if a few changes were made to various records, no one really needed to know, right?

Bryce Larkin changed everything about himself when he went to Stanford, including his name. Bryce Larkin didn't exist before Stanford, and he wouldn't exist after. And he really only regretted one thing about the whole CIA/Fulcrum/ Ring business, and that was leaving Chuck behind.

Chuck liked Bryce for his geekiness and his smarts and the self-defense lessons that Chuck never mastered at all and that Bryce taught himself Klingon simply because Chuck wanted a thing just for them.

And then Bryce stabbed Chuck in the back, for his own good, though Chuck didn't know it at the time.

But Stanford is gone, and Bryce Larkin is dead, and Neal Caffrey only served a year of his time, though records will say otherwise. Maintaining two lives parallel to each other is supremely difficult, and without Kate's help he couldn't have done it. He really did love her, but he also used to wish, while holding her or kissing her or planning with her, that she was taller and stronger and spoke Klingon.

And now that he's Neal Caffrey full time—unless told otherwise by the FBI—he has Peter. And he could come to love Peter, given time.

But Peter will never be Chuck.


	7. remember this moment

**Title**: remember this moment

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: spoilers for up to season 2

**Pairings**: Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**:195

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/Bryce, "I'm only going to see Professor Fleming, buddy. Why did that feel like goodbye sex?"

* * *

In hindsight, a great deal of things make sense. The few times Bryce pulled away just before various trips for that weird company where he worked, how tightly he held Chuck after coming back home. The look in his eyes after Chuck missed a bank hold-up by mere minutes. How good he was at Gotcha.

And that day when Fleming called Chuck to his office, when Bryce pulled Chuck to the bed and proceeded to ravish him. When Bryce kissed him like they'd never see each other again.

It was just a stupid meeting. Something about Chuck's grades. Nothing important, nothing scary. And Bryce whispered in his ear, "Remember this moment."

Chuck did remember that moment. He learned why it felt like goodbye.

It still didn't make sense, not for the longest time. Not until he watched a video of Fleming and Bryce, of Bryce rewriting Chuck's future to delete himself from it. To keep Chuck safe. To keep Chuck from becoming him.

And Chuck wishes he could go back to that moment, to clutch Bryce close, to ward off their separate destinies.

He wishes, so much, that none of their goodbyes ever happened.


	8. yes, I am wearing a vest

**Title**: yes, I am wearing a vest

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from "Chuck"

**Warnings**: takes place just after season 2

**Pairings**: Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 260

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, wishing he could confide in Ellie.

* * *

Ellie got the full blow of his meltdown after Stanford and Bryce. He didn't tell her everything, like how he felt his heart shatter in two because he really thought he'd been in love, and not with Jill... but she's Ellie, so she probably already knew anyway.

And for awhile, he talked to Ellie about everything. But now he can't. It would put her in danger to know, and he wishes he didn't know, but he _does_ know, and...

Bryce was a spy. And he was dead, except not, and then he was dead again, dead for good, dead in Chuck's arms. And he broke Chuck's heart to keep him alive. And he ruined Chuck's life because Chuck was the only person in the world he trusted to do the right thing.

And Chuck really wishes he could talk to Ellie about this. Bryce is a forbidden subject with Sarah, and just _no_ to Casey, and while Morgan is a good friend, he wouldn't understand.

Chuck wants his big sister to hug him and tell him everything will be okay, but Bryce is dead again, and he wasn't a traitor. And Chuck still loves him. And the world is _insane_, and Chuck has no idea what to do, and Ellie could tell him, he knows she could.

But she won't, because he can't tell her, so he sits down at his computer and writes an email in Klingon and sends it to the last address he has for Bryce.

He doesn't fell any better, but that's to be expected.


	9. I saw pale kings, and princes too

**Title**: I saw pale kings, and princes too

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Keats

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 205

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Neal +or/ Bryce, it's impossible to tell which is the worst influence

* * *

Between the two of them, they've broken every law involving weapons or theft. Neal thinks he's the better twin, though, because he's never killed.

Bryce says he is, because he was only ever caught after he was dead.

Neal just gives him a pout for bringing up that horrible event again, and Bryce promises to take him to the Louvre later in the week.

Peter bursts in at that moment, Chuck on his heels, and they receive the same innocent expressions, blue eyes wide and pure as the sky.

Peter's glare is ferocious, but there's a hint of laughter at the corners of his mouth, and Chuck's babbling about Neal's successful and varied career. When Peter glances back at him, brow raised, Chuck quiets instantly.

Bryce huffs a small laugh and Neal ducks his head, smothering a grin. There won't be any Louvre in the near future, but they will sneak out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art later, while Chuck (and possibly Casey) distract Peter, and for the first time in a long time, they'll actually act like the brothers they used to be, back when they only played at being dangerous and Neal dreamed of being famous and Bryce thought about saving the world.


	10. echoes of another year

**Title**: echoes of another year

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: future!fic

**Pairings**: Bryce!Neal/Chuck

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**:420

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Chuck/Bryce!Neal, He totally had Chuck going until the bad guys showed up; Chuck knows Bryce's fighting style.

* * *

Chuck's checked everything the intersect has on Bryce (twice, thrice, a dozen times) and nowhere does it mention he had a twin. Or a clone.

And while Neal Caffrey looks _just like Bryce_, he doesn't move like him. And he's charming, _just like Bryce_, but he doesn't know about Star Trek and he gives Chuck a politely confused expression when Chuck speaks Klingon, and even Sarah—who knew Bryce at least as well as Chuck did—says it can't be him.

And then, while Chuck and Neal are a few rooms over from the rest of their joint-team, there's suddenly a dozen guys attacking them. The intersect kicks in and Chuck is totally destroying them, when he glances over and sees Neal doing the same.

Neal. The guy with awesome hats who sketched Chuck so life-like it was a mirror in under a minute. The guy who knows the difference between Monet and Manet, but not Picard and Janeway. The guy who spent four years in jail instead of dying in Chuck's arms. The guy who didn't go to college anywhere, but definitely not Stanford.

Except that is _totally_ Bryce. Chuck's learned his fighting style courtesy the intersect and the Buy-More, and _that is Bryce_.

And as soon as the fight's over and all the goons are unconscious or dead, Bryce _looks_ at Chuck and—vanishes. And it's Neal standing there, and he says, "Well, that was an adventure, wasn't it?"

Agent Burke and Sarah and Casey run in, guns ready, and Neal says, "Peter, you should have seen Chuck! He was amazing."

Chuck wants to cry. And he tries to talk to Neal a dozen times, but Neal always dodges him, and then it's their last day working with the FBI and Neal pops in out of _nowhere_, grabs Chuck's hand, and drags him to a conference room. He shuts the door, closes the blinds, and says, "Bryce Larkin died, Chuck. He died and his body was destroyed."

"I know," Chuck responds, watching carefully, but it's still Neal.

Until he gives Chuck a quick, heartbreaking smile. "I'm sorry, Chuck," he murmurs, and leans forward for an entirely too brief kiss. "I'm Neal Caffrey now," he says, and then, in Klingon, "Go home. I can't be who you want anymore."

And Neal pulls away, straightens first his shirt, then Chuck's, and leaves the room.

And when Chuck has to wipe away some tears on the way home, not even Casey gives him a hard time about it.


	11. live until I cease to be

**Title**: live—until I cease to be

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Lord Byron

**Warnings**: vampire AU

**Pairings**: pre-Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 1050

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Chuck(/Casey or Bryce or Shaw), blood in the water

* * *

Chuck quickly ducked behind the potted plant, trying to be invisible. If he stayed entirely motionless and didn't breathe at all, maybe the vampires wouldn't notice him.

Despite his prayers and fervent hopes, he wasn't that surprised when the vampires found him within seconds.

Stupid heartbeat.

o0o

Turns out, the vampires worked for The Black Ring slavers, and they were looking for new meat. And Chuck, while a geek and pacifist, was in very good physical condition and had nowhere near an alpha personality, so the vampires thought he'd make an excellent addition to their collection.

He tried not to think that Bryce wouldn't have ever been in this situation.

He also tried not to think about how much Ellie would cry when he just simply vanished, like their parents. Maybe this is what happened to them.

o0o

Waiting around in the cage, Chuck really had nothing to do except think. He'd already silently worked his way through Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica facts, and now he kept reminiscing.

Stanford. Jill, his dream girl. And Bryce. His best friend, his brother, the guy who understood him and geeked out with him and told him that together they could do anything. Would do anything. Couldn't be stopped, together. The whole world was theirs.

Then Bryce betrayed him for no reason, and that led to here. The cage. The vampire slavers.

Turns out, he and Bryce had no future at all.

o0o

And then, the vampires started panicking. Hissing and snarling at each other, watching the door warily, looking around in fear.

Chuck would've found this change promising, except _nothing_ scared vampires. Nothing human, anyway. The Old Ones could frighten almost every vampire younger than five thousand. Old Ones, according to myth, could even live without blood for decades and barely tap their reserves.

So since nothing human would be making the slavers act like terrified puppies, only an Old One could be approaching.

And that... could not be good.

o0o

So when Bryce Larkin appeared out of thin air in the midst of the slavers, Chuck did not believe his eyes. Bryce died six months ago, after a break-in at his office when he was working late. Bryce _died_. Chuck even attended his funeral and got drunk after. He sobbed out a confession to Ellie about his crush on Bryce, the whole time he was with Jill.

But there Bryce was, ripping vampires apart with his bare hands, face totally expressionless. He _actually got faster_ the whole time, tearing off heads and shredding ribcages, squishing hearts in-between his fingers.

Chuck didn't take a breath until it was done, every vampire in pieces and Bryce standing silently standing amongst their dismembered corpses. The rest of the people in the cage were crying or begging or whimpering, pressed as far back as they could get, faces covered by their hands.

But Chuck stared at Bryce, who was looking right back at him, and when Bryce said, "I got you kicked out of Stanford to show how little I cared for you because one of my children had gone rogue." He nodded his head to the slavers' remains and said, "They were the last of his clan."

Bryce strode forward, saying, "Breathe, Chuck. You're still human. You need the air."

Chuck took a deep breath, fairly sure he was hallucinating. Maybe the slavers had given him something.

Bryce smiled at him, that same smile when Chuck managed to beat him at something, like he was happy at Chuck's success. He was so different from anyone Chuck had ever known. Even Morgan grumbled when Chuck did better.

"I missed you," Bryce said, tearing off the door of the cage.

The people were being as still and quiet as possible, but Bryce seemed so _normal_. Exactly like Chuck's friend back at Stanford. Just a genius, charismatic, gorgeous guy. Chuck had always wondered what Bryce saw in _him_, a bumbling geek, and here, Bryce had even come back from the dead to annihilate vampires for him.

"What are you?" Chuck asked as he took Bryce's offered hand to jump out of the cage. Bryce just shrugged, so Chuck turned back, trying to get the people to follow him. "C'mon," he said. "Let's get out of here."

None of them reacted and Chuck frowned, leaning half in. "Guys?"

"They're in a trance," Bryce told him. "They'll wake up when we're gone."

Chuck looked back at him. "What?"

Bryce smiled again, this time his _it's for your own good, so do what I say_ smile, the one that got Chuck to drink various concoctions every time he got sick because they were Granna Rose's special recipe and cured everything from colds to allergic reactions to mono and pneumonia.

In hindsight, Chuck was a gullible moron because every one of those medications had been dark red.

"You claimed me," Chuck said.

"Yes."

"Why?" he asked, moving past confusion into apprehension because, even after everything, Bryce still felt safe.

"You are unique, Chuck, unlike any soul I've met in my entire existence." He reached up to cup Chuck's cheek with his palm. "And you are mine, Chuck. Even if you deny me until your dying day, I will protect you. These children knew what they did when they grabbed you—their last defiant act to the one who made their maker." He pulled away and Chuck sighed at the loss of contact.

They were both silent for a moment, Chuck avoiding Bryce's steady gaze. Finally, Bryce said, "I'll take you home. Ellie's worried."

Chuck nodded.

o0o

At the door, Chuck paused, turning to Bryce. They'd been quiet on the way and nobody had bothered them. Chuck could've sworn a few guys he somehow knew were vampires had fled in the opposite direction. Bryce looked sad by porchlight, tired and so very young.

"Come by tomorrow," he said. "Midmorning. Ellie and Awesome will be at work."

This time, it was Bryce's relieved smile, the one he wore whenever Chuck forgave him back at Stanford. "We'll talk," Chuck said, and Bryce nodded.

Chuck slid his key into the lock and turned the knob. He knew Bryce wouldn't leave until he was inside, and most likely not even then. "Thank you," he murmured.

Bryce just brushed a hand along his shoulder and faded into the night like he'd never been.


	12. like a house on fire

**Title**: like a house on fire

**Fandom**: NCIS/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: at some indeterminate time during Chuck

**Pairings**: Gibbs/Tony, Tony/Tim, Ziva/Tony, Tim/Abby, and pre-Bryce/Tim

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 435

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: NCIS/Chuck, Tim/Bryce, Bryce fights like Ziva and teases like Tony and somehow seems to like Tim as much as Tim likes him

* * *

Gibbs' newest probie is named Bryce Larkin. He's as smart as Abby, flirts up a storm like Tony, and fights better than Ziva (which, honestly, Tim hadn't believed possible).

And he looks back at Tim when Tim stares at him. Tim ducked his head the first time he noticed Bryce watching him, but now it's as normal as Ziva messing up idioms, Abby being manic on caffeine, and Tony's attempts to embarrass Tim (oh, sorry, 'toughen up his sweet lil'probie hide').

Tim never made a move on Tony. He barely worked up the courage to ask Abby out, and that turned into a disaster, so he decided to not tempt fate with Tony. Even if he has been fantasizing about what could have been for years, it's better to wonder than to be the reason Team Gibbs fell apart.

Which it would, since even if Tony said yes and they had a good time, he's crazy-in-love with Gibbs and has this weird thing with Ziva, and—no. Even Abby would probably choose Tony over Tim, and Gibbs might very well rip Tim into pieces and scatter him in various spots. (Not that he'll ever make a move on Tony either. For whatever insane reason. Sometimes Tim wonders why Ducky hasn't smacked Gibbs upside the head and directed him towards Tony, but it's not Tim's place to ever say anything. Damnit.)

So, yeah. He never made a move on Tony. But Bryce Larkin is new. They all like him, and he's _awesome_ to have on your side in your fight. And he won't be on the team for much longer, so Tim could squeeze under Rule 12.

And best of all? He not only doesn't mock Tim for being a geek, _he's a geek, too_. And he actually _knows Klingon_.

"You know," Bryce says as they're all packing up to go home. He sits on the edge of Tim's desk and grins at him. "If you let me take you out to dinner, Tim, I could teach you a few grammar rules for Klingon. Some vocab, too."

Tim expects something out of Tony for that, a 'geek' cough or a smartass remark, but instead he's quiet. Tim glances over quickly, and there's something sad on Tony's face before he wipes it away for a grin as bright as Bryce's.

"You have intentions on Timmy's virtue?" he asks. "Better talk to Abby first."

But Bryce just keeps looking at Tim. "I asked Tim," he says calmly.

And Tim says, "Okay, yeah, great."

It's the best night of his life so far, and he can't wait till their next date.


	13. this is the murmur of yearning

**Title**: this is the murmur of yearning

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: anytime post-season 2

**Pairings**: implied Chuck/Bryce

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 170

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/Bryce, _I used to love a boy, but now he's two years dead..._ (Murder in My Heart - Sheryl Crow)

* * *

_I wish you were here. Wish things had gone better. Wish I could've..._

_I should've saved you. It was all my fault. And yours. Most of it was your fault, too._

Chuck stops writing. Throws the pen down and crumples the paper.

Thinks, _fuck you, Bryce from Connecticut. if that's really where you were from._

Ellie calls him to supper; Awesome made some awesome pizza.

He yells back that he'll be right there, and he smoothes out the paper, picks up the pen.

_We could've been great. The best team that ever was._

_Me and you, Chuck&Bryce, unbeatable and unstoppable, saving the world._

_Even when I hated you, I dreamed about you. You and me, passing codes in Klingon and wowing everybody. And after I got the intersect…_

_You the superspy and me your secret weapon. We could've been something._

_You and me, me and you, the best and brightest._

_Fuck you, Bryce._

He drops the pen, shreds the paper, and goes to dinner.

Thinks in Klingon, _I miss you_.


	14. love is where our summer was

**Title**: love is where our summer was

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: child abuse; implied sexual abuse

**Pairings**: implied OMC/Neal

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 445

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: White Collar/Chuck, Neal + Bryce, James Bond and James Bonds

* * *

When they were young, Noah and Brendan Lafferty's favorite thing to do was watch old James Bond VHSs. Their father had most of the films; a box full was the only thing left behind when he didn't come back one day.

As new films were made, they would sneak into the theater, and Brendan talked about one day being James Bond. Noah promised to help him, and create any documents needed.

Dad came back their senior year. He could barely stand Noah, who was president of the art club and the lead in the play. He thought Brendan was awesome though, since Brendan had mastered all the martial arts taught in their town. Brendan had passed on the basics to Noah, but Dad didn't care about that.

Brendan wasn't there the afternoon their father finally lost his temper and grabbed Noah's arm, slamming him into a wall. Wasn't there when their father told him that he was a fag, a slut, and if he spread his legs for half the town, he'd goddamned better bring home some money for it.

Mom was upstairs, sleeping. Dad had alcohol on his breath. Brendan wasn't there.

Noah didn't fight back and hated himself for it.

When Brendan got home, Noah was in their room beneath the covers of Brendan's bed.

The next morning, their father was gone again. Noah wanted to ask; their mother did. Brendan smiled at Mom and shrugged, and sat down too close to Noah after serving them breakfast.

Dad never came back that time, and a few days later, Brendan took Noah to a desolate spot on the edge of town where the dirt was freshly turned. There, Brendan asked if Noah was ready to leave, make their dreams finally come true.

A week after that, Noah and Brendan Lafferty were dead; Neal Caffrey and Bryce Larkin were born.

Bryce went to Stanford, got recruited by the CIA, and became an American James Bond. He wrote Neal letters giving out the details that wouldn't get them both killed.

Neal went to New York and immersed himself in art like he never had at home. He created identities and painted his favorites and began making a name as the go-to guy for non-violent crime. He met Moz and wrote Bryce, telling him the funnier stories.

When he learned the name the FBI had given him, Neal called Bryce and they laughed for days. They met up at one of Neal's safe-houses and had a James Bond marathon.

(Neither of them had guessed, then, how things would go. It was so much like a movie and they'd never watched movies without a happy ending.)


	15. the seam of a cloud

**Title**: the seam of a cloud

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: Chuck/Bryce, Chuck/Sarah, Bryce/Sarah

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 175

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/Bryce and Sarah, so obviously in love with their secret smiles, small touches and private jokes that it saddens Sarah to know that she never had that with either of them. Not very angsty or anything but more of a realisation of how good Chuck and Bryce are for each other.

* * *

She had Bryce for only a few years, when they were partners and lovers but never friends. They complemented each other's styles, and they saved each other's lives, and they were amazing together, perhaps the best team the CIA ever had.

She had Chuck for only a few years, when they fake-dated for a cover and he had an adorable crush and she fell in love. He was everything she never had but always wanted, what Bryce might have been. What Bryce had been, once. Before she knew him.

But Bryce and Chuck had each other before she ever entered the picture, and she had only been a substitute for both.

She could make a scene here. If she were a lesser woman, she would. But she loves them both, the men who were never hers because they met each other first. And they are the best, will be the best, have always been the best, and so Sarah smiles at them, the men smiling like they never had for her, and she steps aside.


	16. bluebleak embers

**Title**: blue-bleak embers

**Fandom**: Chuck/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: future!fic; AU for Chuck

**Pairings**: OT3

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 445

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Bryce!Neal +or/ any, Neal will maintain his cover through physical torture if he must - but when someone he loves is the one being tortured he'll risk everything

* * *

They grabbed Elizabeth last night, while she walked to her car. She'd stayed late at the office for some little detail only the boss could see to, while Peter and Neal waited at home. Uselessly at home, waiting for her, and she never came and now she's missing.

It has nothing to do with the case Peter's working or some con Neal pulled ten years ago. Peter's checked everything, pulled every file, combed through a million small details and he's at a loss. Doesn't know why they took Elizabeth or who they are.

Neal doesn't know either. Neal couldn't know, shouldn't know. Neal stayed away from certain parts of his profession. Didn't want to get involved with anyone who was violent or dealt in flesh.

But now Elizabeth's been gone for three days without a call, without a ransom, without a clue.

And while Neal doesn't know, Bryce could find out.

So Peter is in his office, following up on leads that go nowhere and Neal crouches in the corner, settling against the wall. He ignores Peter, ignores Diana and Jones, closes his eyes and lets all the barriers in his mind drop.

There are things he can't ignore anymore, not with El snatched and gone. Not with Peter cracking at the seams.

Neal closed his eyes, but Bryce opens them. And while Neal shied away from violence, Bryce won't. He's been sleeping for five years now, first in the tail-end of a sentence Neal barely served and then as the Burkes' pet con, but now, _now_—

"Neal?" Diana asks, drawing Peter's attention to the man leaning against the wall.

Bryce answers, "I have an idea," because he knows things Neal never has and he's done things Neal never could, and there's a man in the underbelly of New York he needs to pay a visit to.

"Neal!" Peter yells after him, but the tracker is left just outside the doors and Neal is gone.

(Bryce finds El a day later. Neal carries her to the ER. The people who took her are never located, but Bryce knows where all the pieces are.

Peter asks and Hughes demands, but since Elizabeth is alive, they just put the tracker back on.

Once El is home, Peter wraps around her and Neal curls in as close he dares, and he hesitantly tells them a story about a boy who went to Stanford, who was tricked into the CIA, who wanted out and died to do it, who _is_ dead most of the time, except when Neal needs him.

"Okay," Elizabeth says and kisses Neal's forehead.

Peter smiles at him and Neal doesn't dream about Chuck that night.)


	17. the egg of the phoenix

**Title**: the egg of the phoenix

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: pre-Chuck/Bryce

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 375

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Chuck/Bryce, When it's for Bryce, even Chuck can't maintain his aversion to killing forever.

* * *

The thing is, he isn't an immediate threat. But Chuck knows he will be, someday. The last person left who knows Bryce is alive, knows Bryce is(much as he hates the word) _damaged_. Knows that Bryce can't shut it off, hears the Intersect whispering in his ear all the time.

Bryce killed everyone else when he broke free, an hour before Chuck finally found him. Everyone who hurt him only to watch the results. Who asked questions he knew the answers to but couldn't say, and then hurt him some more when he tried to tell them that.

Some kind of disconnect in his mind, but he's still _Bryce_.

He can speak full, understandable sentences in Klingon. But the other dozen languages that have always danced on his tongue? He's barely coherent in those, and the frustration is _killing_ him, and this cowering little scientist with soiled underwear, who claims to be a doctor, who has two kids at home without a clue what Daddy really is—he's terrified enough that he'll let them go, won't raise the alarm no one else managed to raise when Bryce was raging through them, leaving bodies broken in his wake.

Chuck should be horrified at the ruins left, where Bryce took out his rage and pain, but he's too furious at the shadows still in Bryce's eyes.

And this little man, huddled against the wall and begging Chuck… he's not a threat, right now. And if Chuck says to let him live, Bryce will.

There's a virus eating its way through every system that mentions Bryce. By dawn, there will nothing left. No evidence beyond the bodies of what Bryce suffered. What he is. Any reports that got sent out, they'll be found and destroyed.

Which means… only this guy, he's the only one who can accurately inform anyone about Bryce. And if Chuck tells Bryce to kill the fucker, Bryce will. Gladly.

Bryce has killed for Chuck before. Will kill for Chuck again. And Chuck wants to hurt _someone_ for what's been done to Bryce.

And this doctor's name was on that report Chuck read, the one that finally led him here, and the stuff this _doctor_ did—

Chuck just wishes he had more time.


	18. the ghost of one who came here often

**Title**: the ghost of one who came here often

**Fandom**: White Collar/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU for Chuck; anytime for White Collar

**Pairings**: implied Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 320

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Bryce + Neal (no slash), "How is it we're identical twins, you can wear my clothes, you can style your hair right, and you still don't look enough like a spy to pass at the agency?" "I'm just not enough of a dick." "Nice."

* * *

The undercover op is successful at first, because Neal is a very good liar and he has years of experience pretending to be his brother.

But it's doomed to failure because while he is good with guns, and proficient at hand-to-hand (his brother insisted), Neal isn't a killer. Not that he _can't_ kill, because he can, and he has, and he will again, to save Peter or El or Moz or (above all) Bryce. But he isn't a killer, not like Bryce. It isn't easy for him.

And he's leading away the spooks after his brother while Bryce escapes, and he slips into a well-dressed crowd, drapes the leather jacket over a model-pretty woman, snags an awesome hat from a guy in a sloppy suit, and sheds Bryce to become Nicholas Calden again.

He gets a text halfway through the party: _made it. vanish_

He meets up with his brother at the loft, and Bryce smiles at him. "Mind if I lie low here for awhile?"

Neal shrugs and stretches his spine, trying to work out the kinks of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. (Or maybe just the weight of one computer geek from Los Angeles. It doesn't matter. Either way, it was a weight he assumed to sell the con, and it failed. How Bryce manages it all the time… well, no wonder he needs to get away, and has died multiple times to do it.)

"Thanks, Noah," Bryce says quietly. He stares over the balcony and Neal tugs him gently toward the bed.

"C'mon, Brendan," Neal murmurs. "When's the last time you slept, lil'brother?"

"I'm barely two minutes younger than you," Bryce mutters, but he lets Neal tuck him under the covers and curls in close when Neal slides next to him.

It's the first time they've curled up together since they were boys, and it's the best sleep Bryce has had since Stanford.


	19. had, having, and in quest to have

**Title**: had, having, and in quest to have

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AUish

**Pairings**: Chuck/Sarah, Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 290

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Chuck/Bryce, On (what would have been) Chuck's wedding day, they find out that Bryce is still alive.

* * *

The priest asks if anyone knows why this man and woman shouldn't be wed. It's quiet; no one responds.

Chuck grins at Sarah and she smiles back, and the priest opens his mouth to continue the service.

And then, out the corner of his eye, Chuck sees dark hair and blue eyes and a white shirt with dried blood. Which is impossible, because Bryce died two years ago. Chuck checked.

But now Sarah's mouth is dropping open, and Casey curses, and Ellie shouts, "Larkin!"

Chuck turns away from the priest and Sarah, to gape at the man who had been his best friend, who had died in his arms, and he says, "Bryce?"

Bryce's face is bruised, his lip split, and there's blood trailing along his hairline. "Hey, Chuck," he says. His smile is rueful and his left arm is wrapped around his middle. His weight is mostly on his right leg. "So, you're getting married."

"Yeah, yeah, I am," Chuck replies. "I... you were dead. Again."

Bryce starts to nod, then stops, wincing, and says, "Mostly, yeah."

The priest politely clears his throat. Sarah squeezes Chuck's hand. "Chuck," she says quietly.

It takes great effort to rip his eyes away from Bryce. He's irrationally afraid that if he's not looking closely, Bryce will vanish again. (On second thought, based on their history, maybe it's not so irrational.) "Sarah," he says. "I…"

She smiles, squeezes his hand again, and then steps back, turning to the priest. "I object," she tells him. Then, with her head held high, she turns to face the crowd and walks down the aisle.

Chuck doesn't watch her go. Instead he steps down and walks to Bryce, and he says, "Come with me."


	20. I give you back your heart

**Title**: I give you back your heart

**Fandom**: Highlander/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

**Warnings**: spoilers for season 2 Chuck

**Pairings**: Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 295

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Neal, Chuck/Bryce, "He's dead, Chuck. Let him go."

**Notes**: I misread the prompt and somehow totally forgot about the White Collar part. Oops.

* * *

Bryce comes back to life with a gasp. He feels the Old Man immediately, before he finishes the first breath.

"Fuck," he coughs.

"Eloquent as always," the man he first knew as Matthew says. "Your deaths have become even more dramatic, Borias." He sounds as American as Chuck. It's weird.

Bryce stares up at him. "I don't suppose you know if Chuck's okay?" he asks, sure the answer will be some variation of _I don't know, and I care even less. Stupid boy._

"Considering the fact you've already come back from the dead once for him..." Matthew pauses, watching Bryce with the sharp eyes that have always seen straight through him. "I don't like the people you've been working for, Bryce," he says. "They don't take proper care of you."

Bryce rolls over, pushing himself to his feet. Matthew stands with him, coming close enough to touch. "It was kind of an accident," Bryce mutters, stretching.

"I'll deal with them," the Old Man says, anger simmering in the words. Bryce hasn't heard that tone in a long time.

Bryce freezes. "Sir?" he says quietly. "It's my mess. I'll clean it up." The last time he heard that tone, an entire village died in one afternoon. Bryce doesn't care about the CIA or Fulcrum or any of that crap, and he never actually did. But he does care about Chuck. And if the Old Man goes on a crusade...

"You'll go back to your mortal," Matthew commands, "and you'll convince him to keep his mouth shut. I'll handle everything else."

There is only one answer to that. Bryce lowers his head and says, "Thank you."

Matthew kisses his forehead. Bryce doesn't think he's meant to hear Matthew murmur, "I wish Kronos had been more like you."


	21. I made you to find me

**Title**: I made you to find me

**Fandom**: Inception/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

**Warnings**: AU for Chuck; pre-, post-, and during film

**Pairings**: Arthur/Eames, Ellie/Awesome

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 630

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: adoration

* * *

When Chuck was a kid, he had an imaginary friend named Bryce. Bryce was smart and funny and charming. As the years passed, Chuck made up a detailed history for Bryce. By the time he was twenty, Chuck would answer any question with a quickness he didn't even have for Ellie, his big sister.

If Bryce were real, he'd be a few inches shorter than Chuck, with dark hair and eyes bluer than the sky. He'd be as smart as Chuck, better with people, know a dozen martial arts and how to handle a gun. And he'd love Chuck. With everything in him, he'd love Chuck. He'd be as much of a geek, and they'd learn Klingon together, and it'd be perfect.

If he were real.

o0o

Chuck went from Stanford to a government program studying dreamshare. He mastered architecture and extraction, and then his instructor asked if he could forge.

Chuck looked at her and closed his eyes, imagining Bryce—from his artfully tousled hair to his shiny shoes.

Dr. Mallorie Cobb inhaled and Chuck turned to the mirror, to see Bryce Larkin looking back.

o0o

Chuck sent daily emails to Ellie. When he followed Mal into crime, he told her goodbye.

o0o

Chuck only ever forged Bryce. He studied martial arts and learned the technical aspects so Bryce could do them, but it didn't transfer into reality. Bryce was perfect at everything in a dream—point, extraction, architecture. But only in a dream.

And then Mal introduced Chuck to Arthur. And with Arthur came Eames.

o0o

Chuck didn't like to admit it, but he had fanboy tendencies. Arthur and Eames had all the coolest aspects of Bryce, but they weren't forging. They were _really that cool_. Being around them was intoxicating.

Not long after they met, though, Mal lost her mind and jumped off a building.

Chuck didn't work with either of them for awhile after that.

o0o

A few years passed. Chuck worked a couple jobs, but then he went home to Ellie and her husband. He got a job as part of the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More. Life was normal and quiet (read: boring).

He kept up with his contacts, of course. He dreamed about Bryce. And six months after Mal's husband returned to their children, Arthur broke into Chuck's apartment, dragging a bloody Eames with him.

"What the hell?" Ellie demanded, pushing her way past Devon. "Chuck, who—"

"Everyone, just keep calm," Chuck said. "Please, no one needs to get shot."

Arthur and Ellie both glared at him.

"Um, this is nice and awkward," Eames slurred, "but I am bleedin' out here, so…" He tried to pull away from Arthur and nearly fell.

Ellie looked at him. Chuck relaxed the moment he saw Arthur notice how Ellie's face softened.

"Devon, Chuck," she ordered, "get him on a bed." She turned to Arthur. "You, with me."

o0o

Together, Ellie and Devon patched Eames up enough to catch a flight. After Arthur and Eames were gone, Ellie shoved Chuck onto the couch and demanded, "_Explain_."

He told her about everything from Stanford on. She listened, then she hugged him, then she asked, "You wanted out of that life?"

"No," he answered. "I just wanted to rest. I was always going back."

She stared at him, her hands clutching his. "You'll contact me on the seventeenth of every month," she told him. "And on your birthday, my birthday, and Mother's Day. Understand? That is the only way I'll let you go."

He kissed her cheek, let Devon slap him on the back, turned in his notice to the Buy More, and went to track down Arthur and Eames.

Maybe they'd let him tag along. In dreams, he was always Bryce, and Bryce… and Bryce was just as badass as them.


	22. where sundown cannot find us

**Title**: where sundown cannot find us

**Fandom**: Highlander/Chuck

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Dickinson

**Warnings**: spoilers for season 2 of Chuck

**Pairings**: Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 190

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: emergency

* * *

Bryce is dead again. _For good this time_, the Old Man says. _Move on to a new identity_, he orders. Bryce Larkin is dead and buried.

Brendan Lafferty spent all his life in Miami, Florida. Orphaned son of a couple who can trace their families to the Mayflower and Jamestown, respectively. Brendan Lafferty has never left Florida, so he sure as shit never went to Stanford or joined the CIA or fell in love with a geek named Chuck.

And Brendan Lafferty doesn't keep up with the geek named Chuck. So there's no way he hears about a black-op meant to vanish Chuck. So Brendan can't ask the Old Man for help, because Brendan has never met the Old Man. Neither has Bryce, though he'd be of far more use than wimpy Brendan.

Borias calls up the closest thing to a father he's ever had and says, _Mathias, please. I love him_.

And Mathias says, _You foolish boy. I'll see you in LA_.

Brendan Lafferty takes a vacation. Bryce Larkin is still dead. And Borias catches a flight to Los Angeles, where he'll change Chuck Bartowski's life again.


	23. I saw pale kings, flipside

**Title**: I saw pale kings, and princes too

**Fandom**: Chuck/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Keats

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 330

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Notes**: the flipside of chapter 9

* * *

Bryce has an identical twin. (_An evil twin_, Bryce laughs, and Neal cuffs him across the back of his head.)

This is _so cool_. Casey spends the whole mission grumbling under his breath, and Sarah is sternly professional, no matter how Neal flirts (with her, and Casey, and Chuck, and the barista, and the parking lot attendant, and honestly, _everyone ever_), and they speak in a made-up language, and Agent Burke just sighs long-sufferingly because Bryce with an _identical twin_ boggles the mind.

Neal is a thief. And a con-artist. And a forger. And so smooth he makes Bryce look like an amateur, which, dude, wow. That's skills.

If they talk about their childhood, it's where nobody can hear. Or in that language no one else in the whole world knows. Chuck stills knows as much as he ever did about Bryce before Stanford, which is all of nothing. Casey and Sarah don't seem to know much more, or Agent Burke, but Mrs. Burke (_Call me El, sweetie_) makes up stories with him.

(Bryce and Neal are the sons of rival assassins, or descended from royalty, or were special agents assigned to kill each other, or a government experiment that turned on its maker. Neal laughs when they walk in. Bryce grins.)

The mission is over all too soon. Neal promises to keep in contact, but Chuck knows he won't. Bryce says he'll check up, make sure his little brother isn't getting into too much trouble.

Agent Burke thanks Casey and Sarah for their help, tells Chuck to keep an eye on Neal's evil twin, and orders Neal to return Chuck's wallet.

Neal's grin is innocent, _who, me?_ Bryce laughs, handing Chuck his wallet with an identical grin.

"Gettin' out of practice, lil'brother," Bryce says.

"I let you," Neal responds, flipping his hat onto his head.

Chuck has no idea which is lying, and Casey drags him out of the building, Bryce sauntering smoothly in their wake.


	24. something inside trying to fly out

**Title**: something inside trying to fly out

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

**Warnings**: pre-series

**Pairing**: pre-Bryce/Chuck

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 215

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Bryce/Chuck, It was days like these, lying spread eagled on campus green, basking in the spring sun beside Chuck that Bryce could forget he'd been washing another man's blood off his hand last night.

* * *

It's a quiet morning. Chuck dragged him out before the heat of the day, to a far corner of the quad, and no one's there but them. Chuck spreads out their books, handing Bryce his history text (easy A, a subject he likes, something that hasn't been ruined by his double life, not yet).

Chuck delves into his computer programming assignment, detailing out what he needs to do on a small notepad, tearing out the pages and sticking it throughout the book. Bryce watches him, instead of opening his own book.

The boy is beautiful. Funny, smart, and kind. When he smiles, Bryce can almost forget that he's not the dumbass kid Chuck met a year ago.

"What's wrong?" Chuck asks, looking up, tilting his head. "You okay, Bryce?"

"Yeah," Bryce says, flipping through his book, looking for the right page. They just started the War of 1812. Fascinating stuff. A tornado saved DC from burning.

(Chuck's like a tornado sometimes. Bryce is pretty sure he won't be saved from being burnt alive.)

Chuck's smiling at him again. The sun is warm, the breeze gentle, and they're so young. Bryce can almost think he'll survive, and be able to keep Chuck safe, and one day, he'll tell Chuck the truth and Chuck will love him anyway.


	25. where skin could lie on skin

**Title**: where skin could lie on skin

**Fandom**: Chuck/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Adrienne Rich

**Warnings**: AU; inferred incest

**Pairings**: Bryce/Chuck/Neal; Bryce/Chuck; Neal/Chuck; Peter/Neal/Elizabeth; Peter/Elizabeth

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 300

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/White Collar, Chuck/Bryce + Chuck/Neal, "I thought you knew!" "Why would I crawl into bed with you if I knew you weren't your brother?" "I thought Bryce would be okay with it." "Oh God."

* * *

Chuck doesn't realize anything is wrong until the next morning, when Bryce is in bed next to him _and _smirking at him from the doorway.

Crap. One of them is not Bryce.

"Hey, Chuck," the maybe-Bryce next to him says. "I think we've been found out."

Okay, so that one's Neal.

"Neal, we've talked about this," Bryce says. "You don't seduce my lovers, I won't seduce yours."

Neal shrugs. "It was a cold night," he whines. "Peter and El are at a family reunion." He pouts. "I'm not family yet."

Bryce rolls his eyes. "How long will they be gone?"

"The rest of the week," Neal says, trying to snuggle against Chuck. Chuck throws himself off the bed and falls onto the floor. Bryce chuckles while Neal peers over the edge.

"Fine," Bryce says, walking around the bed to offer Chuck a hand. "If you get cold again, you can share our bed."

"He can?" Chuck asks at the same time Neal cheers.

"Think about it," Neal says, smiling at Chuck. It's a good smile. It looks like Bryce's smile right before... _oh_.

Right.

Chuck blinks.

Bryce and Neal look at him with the _same_smile. Well, damn.

"Can... I..." He doesn't have enough moisture in his mouth to complete the sentence, but Bryce gently pushes him back onto the bed.

Neal says, "May I kiss him, Bryce?"

"Chuck," Bryce whispers, plastering himself to Chuck's back. "Can my little brother kiss you?"

Chuck nearly pulls a muscle nodding. Neal surges forward, claiming his mouth, while Bryce nibbles at his neck.

This is like every fantasy he's had since he learned Bryce had an identical (criminal) twin.

Apparently, they _can _seduce together. Good to know.

"Stop thinking," Bryce murmurs.

Chuck turns his brain off and goes with it.


	26. practice losing farther, losing faster

**Title**: practice losing farther, losing faster

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Elizabeth Bishop

**Warnings**: heartbreak; AUish

**Pairings**: Chuck/Bryce

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 155

**Point****of****view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck, Chuck/Bryce, _The __art __of __losing __isn't __hard __to __master; __so __many __things __seem __filled __with __the __intent __to __be __lost __that __their __loss __is __no __disaster._

* * *

He realizes, as time passes and passes (and, oh look, time passed some more) that he and Bryce weren't meant for more than they had.

(And if he tells himself that, louder and louder, more and more, to make it hurt less, well. It's all in his head anyway. No one else is listening. No one else cares.)

Bryce wasn't the first thing he lost, or the last to come back. Nowhere near the worst, as more time passes.

But in the middle of the night (or the middle of the day, whenever he's sleeping), he circles back to Bryce, brilliant and bright, the best thing he ever had.

He knows that in hindsight. Stupid hindsight.

Bryce Larkin. Not an accountant. Probably not even from Connecticut. A geek, and beautiful, and so perfectly alive…

They wouldn't have lasted. Not as friends, not as lovers.

(No matter how often he says it, it still tastes like a lie.)


	27. These children of the sun

**Title**: These children of the sun

**Fandom**: Chuck/Inception/White Collar

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from John Clare

**Warnings**: AU for White Collar; mentions of character death

**Pairings**: Arthur/Eames, past Bryce/Chuck, implied Neal/Peter

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 450

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Chuck/Inception/White Collar, Chuck + Arthur, (Arthur and Bryce!Neal are brothers) Arthur doesn't know anything about Chuck except that Bryce/Neal fell in love with him in college, he's a spy like Arthur's brother, and he was there when Bryce/Neal died. Arthur tracks him down but their meeting doesn't go like Arthur expected.

* * *

Arthur gives out his notice responsibly before disappearing: he lets everyone know he'll be out of contact for at least a month, and won't even be accepting calls for emergencies. He's taking personal time, and _will not be bothered_, and that includes Eames.

(Eames doesn't care about that. He shadows Arthur, and Arthur knows it.)

Arthur used to be named Aidan, and his brother is missing-presumed-dead. Brendan-became-Bryce-became-Neal-went-back-to-being-Bryce and fucking _died_, and Arthur wants to know why. He _needs _to know why.

And Chuck, that silly little boy Bryce fell in love with and Neal couldn't forget, was there. He was _there _when Brendan died, and Arthur will learn everything he knows, no matter what it takes.

Brendan wouldn't want Chuck to come to harm, but Brendan's fucking _dead_, so he gets no say at all.

.

Chuck's a spy, like Bryce. He's also a geek, and a dork, and so _nice_it burns. Arthur's not used to nice. (Also, he can hear Eames laughing.)

Chuck's earnest, and after he stares at Arthur for a long, awkward moment (and the gun Arthur's holding), he slumps down, and he says, "I am so sorry," and the damnedest thing is, Arthur believes him.

.

So, Chuck is actually a spy with a computer in his head (Bryce's fault) and he knows far too many things about Arthur for Arthur to be comfortable with. But he won't use the information against Arthur, because (for some insane reason) he thinks Arthur's a good guy. (Eames is laughing again.)

"He talked about you, sometimes," Chuck tells him. "He missed you."

Arthur says nothing, but his hand is not on his gun.

.

When Chuck's keepers come to his rescue (Arthur is not impressed, and Eames makes half a dozen snarky remarks before they've even cleared LA), Arthur is long gone.

He doesn't have his brother's body, but he knows exactly how and why Brendan died.

Chuck is still alive, because it would've have made Brendan's death worthless if he wasn't.

.

Arthur finishes out his month of vacation in New York. Burke is completely different from Chuck, but Arthur likes him a bit more, and Eames has fun finding and replacing his favorite pieces at the Met.

Finally, as the month draws to a close, Eames pulls Arthur into his arms and asks softly, "Will you tell me about him?"

Aidan and Brendan are both dead. But Arthur almost sees them, young and fierce and strong, as he tells Eames things no one has ever heard before.

.

(Casey is annoyed, and Sarah furious, but Chuck never does explain what happened in those four hours he was off-grid.

He's alive. Because he knew Bryce so well, he knows what that means.)


	28. the calm warning of the evening star lef

Title: the calm warning of the evening star left to him

Fandom: White Collar/Chuck

Disclaimer: not my characters; one line paraphrased from _Skyfall; title from _Sean O'Casey

Warnings: AUish, mentions of violence, identity issues

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 445

Point of view: third

Prompt: White Collar / Chuck, Neal as Bryce, looking in the mirror, wondering what's his name today

* * *

Five days ago, his name was Chris.

Six days before that, he was Tommy.

Seven days before that, he was Elton.

Three months ago, he was Bryce Larkin.

.

Bryce Larkin was not a traitor. Bryce Larkin _was _a fool.

.

Today, he's Neal. A year ago, he was Neal. Two, three, four years ago - still Neal.

Neal's his favorite. Neal's suave and debonair, so gorgeous and slick. Neal's a charmer, that's for sure. Even the people who hate Neal just can't help but love him.

Look at Peter if you don't believe it.

.

Chris Watson is a sociology student.

Tommy Douglass is an art appraiser.

Elton Smythe is the only son of an oil tycoon.

Bryce Larkin was a government agent in love with computer geek.

And Neal… Neal's no more real than them. Neal's a ghost. A figment. A dream.

Neal isn't chained by anything but loyalty, and loyalty…

Well. Loyalty can be very fleeting.

.

Neal looks into the mirror. Chris and Tommy and Elton and Bryce all look back. Ghosts. Figments. Dreams.

He blinks and he's Neal.

Bryce Larkin has resurrected once before. He might again. Loyalty is his greatest weakness, after all.

Bryce Larkin wasn't his first life, but until Neal it was the longest.

Loyalty is a weakness.

He turns away from the mirror and grabs his hat on the way out the door.

.

Justin Contel is a gun-runner for the mafia trying to work his way up. He's stupid and reckless. Impressive, though, those moves he can pull out of a car. He's flashy and charming. So charming.

The sting goes south and there's no way Neal Caffrey could get out alive. It steals Peter's breath, heart in his throat, the thought that Neal would die inside while Peter's own team holds him back, shouting orders nobody listens to.

But staring into the barrel of a gun, Neal blinks and changes skins.

Neal Caffrey couldn't get out alive. Neither could Justin Contel.

But Bryce Larkin… his greatest weakness might be loyalty, but his greatest skill is resurrection.

.

The mafioso turned on his men, that's what Neal's report says.

No one sees Bryce Larkin, every few blinks, and no one questions his story. They're just too happy he survived.

.

Neal Caffrey is a ghost. A figment. A dream.

And like Bryce Larkin before him, one day he'll vanish like smoke in the night, gone as if it'd never been.

He looks into the mirror, blinking through all the names he's worn, and it gets harder to choose because it's time to move on.

… not quite yet.

Neal Caffrey flips on his hat, grins at the mirror, and saunters out.


End file.
